Jews 1930s and Beyond

Aren't you glad you don't have to clean up after this giant fellows?

In the 1920s and into the 1930s, Jewish families started to move into new neighbourhoods south of False Creek, such as Fairview. In 1923, the Talmud Torah Hebrew School opened an annex near Broadway and Cambie Streets. 

It took a long period of fundraising but the Jewish community did raise enough money to have the first Jewish Community Centre built in 1928. It was at Oak Street and 11th Avenue. The Talmud Torah School moved into that centre the same year. The Congregation Beth Israel was formally founded in 1932 and their services were held in the centre. The Schara Tzedeck congregation had plans to move to the Fairview area in 1937 but were hampered by the economic depression and the war.

Following the stock market crash of 1929, many wealthy Jewish families moved to the new neighbourhoods of Shaugnessy and Point Grey.

It was in 1932 that the Jewish Administrative Council was formed to coordinate the Free Loan Association, Community Chest and Community Centre.

In the 1940s, the Jewish community and population began to centre around Oak Street in central Vancouver which is south of the first Jewish Community Centre. In 1943, the Talmud Torah school established its first independent facility on West 14th Avenue, between Oak and Cambie Streets. The Beth Hamidrash B'nai Ya'acov was also formed in 1942, within walking distance of the Jewish Fairview homes.

The Perez Centre for Secular Jewish Culture - previously known as the Vancouver Peretz Institute or Shule - was established near Oak Street as a secular-humanist educational and cultural centre in 1945. American comedian Eddie Cantor founded a home for elderly Jews nearby in 1946. The Schara Tzedeck congregation was finally dedicated its new synagogue in 1948 as well as the Beth Israel synagogue in 1949.

The Talmud Torah school moved to a new Oak Street campus in 1948 and became a day school for elementary grades. The Canadian Jewish Congress opened a Vancouver branch in 1941. Schara Tzedeck opened the first Jewish funeral chapter in 1944.

After World War II there was a great influx of central and eastern Canadian Jews as well as a wave of Sephardic Jewish immigration to British Columbia. The first Sephardic High Holy Day services were held at the Jewish Community Centre in 1966. 

The Beth Hamidrash synagogue membership had been shrinking and when the Sephardic congregation formed, they used that synagogue for services. In 1979, the Sephardic congregation merged with the Beth Hamidrash Ashkenazic congregation.

 In the 1960s and 1970s, the Jewish population continued to shift south and west to the Oakridge area. A new Jewish Community Centre was built in 1962 at Oak and 41st. The only Jewish seniors faculty west of Winnipeg was built here in 1968 - the Louis Brier Home and Hospital for the Aged. Temple Sholom was formed in 1964 on Oak Street.

Wealthy families moved to Point Grey and West Vancouver neighbourhoods. A study conducted by Leonoff Vancouver Jewish Community Telephone Directory- shows that only 10% of the local Jewish community lived outside Vancouver in 1960. However, due to rising housing costs, many families began to move to the suburbs.

The development of community service and congregations in the Jewish community has often been a cooperative process with help from neighbouring cities. There are some accounts though of suburban communities feeling ignored by central organizations. In response to this, the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver was established in 1987 to develop a wider community across the area. It was born from the merger of the United Jewish Appeal and the Jewish Community Fund and Council.

The Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver offers services for the entire community. The centre houses organizations such as the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, the Jewish Museum and Archives of B.C. and the Vancouver Holocaust Education centre. The centre also offers programs for all ages, the Isaac Waldman library as well as recreational, arts and event facilities.

Rabbi Yitzchak ad Henia Wineberg moved from Brooklyn, NY in 1974 to open the first Chabad House Centre in Western Canada. Chabad has been credited with the resurgence in Jewish identity and practice. Chabad Lubavitch BC now operates seven centres across the province: Chabad of Vancouver Island, Chabad of the Okanagon, Centre of Judaism for the Lower Fraser Valley in White Rock, Chabad of Richmond, Chabad of downtown Vancouver, Chabad of East Vancouver and the Chabad headquarters at 41st and Oak. There is even a Chabad centre in Whistler.

In 2004, Beth Hamidrash dedicated a new synagogue building. In 2007, Congregation Schara Tzedeck celebrated its centenary as the first and largest Orthodox synagogue in British Columbia with a membership of 450 families and some of those are fourth-generation members. Also in 2007, Congregation Beth Israel celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary.

Thanks to Wikipedia for the above information. I hope you find the beauty around you.


Karen Magill, Vancouver, Chabad, Schara Tzedeck, Rabbi Yitzchak, British Columbia

Jews in Canada

Canada is the fourth largest home to Jewish communities in the world. And Vancouver is the third largest in Canada with approximately 30,000 Jews - this is according to 2005 statistics.

Most of the Jewish population in Canada are composed of Ashkenazi Jews who immigrated from Europe though Montreal has a large population of French-speaking Jews from North Africa and some from France. The first Jews arrived in Canada during the second part of the 18th century and the first group settled in Montreal - this is still a major centre for the Jewish community today. Up until the mid 1800s, Jews mainly stayed in Montreal. However, an influx of the Jews from Central and Eastern Europe and later Lithuania, caused the people to disperse and form communities in other cities in Canada.

After the Holocaust - also known as Shoah - tens of thousands of Jews arrived in Canada. Then, after the failed revolution in Communist Hungary, a few thousand Hungarian Jews were admitted to Canada. When the French colonial regime ended in certain Arab countries, a wave of anti-Semitism arose and Canada admitted as sizable group of Jews from Morocco and other African countries.

Jews in Canada tend to be more traditional than those who went to the United States to live. Perhaps that is because of the multi-culturalism of Canada. The Jews here tend to be more aware of their heritage and more intent on preserving it.

Thanks to the multi-culturalism in Canada, Jews have been able to be openly proud of their culture and seek ways to celebrate it.

That doesn't mean that there hasn't been cases of anti-Semitism in Canada because there has. It was most prevalent during the 1930s when a number of groups and organizations were producing anti-Jewish rhetoric. More recently, there have been small, but active groups that are attempting to malign those of the Jewish faith. Fortunately, this hatred has never caught on especially in the political arena. Around the beginning of this century, there was a rise in anti-Jewish sentiments with attacks on Jewish synagogues, cemeteries and other property as well as attacks on Jews themselves. According to the report I read though, it seems that most Jews weren't overly concerned with this increase.

Thanks to jafi.org for the above information. There is more to tell you on Friday.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Karen Magill, Vancouver, Judaism, Montreal, Canada, British Columbia

From Catholicism to Judaism, Time to Worship

If you are downtown and happen to be near Richards and Dunsmuir then a stop at the Holy Rosary Cathedral is in order.

This cathedral is built in the french gothic style and was designed by architect T.E. Julien of the firm Julien and Williams, architects. It was started on July 16, 1899 when the first cornerstone was laid and 490 days later, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception - December 8, 1900 - the church opened. It was regarded by many to be the finest piece of architecture west of Toronto and north of San Francisco.

A statue of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception looks over the entrance and watches over those entering the church.

The cathedral is constructed of sandstone from Gabriola Island on a foundation of local granite. It is built in the form of a cross that is 161 feet long, 104 feet across at the transepts and 217 feet to the top of the tallest steeple.

In 1916 this Church of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary was declared a cathedral.

I don't know what this piece of granite says but it looks important!

In the 110 years that the cathedral has been there it has gone through a few updates and upgrades but the Roman Catholic church has managed to always keep the essence of the past intact. From my research I am told that the interior is fantastic as well, including the church organ. I did enter the front part of the church but there were people sitting in the pews so I just looked through the glass doors, I didn't want to disturb them.

This church hold special memories for me. I am not Catholic but many years ago - around thirty to be precise - I was going to Barbizon Modelling School. I lived in Langley and each Saturday I would board a bus that would take me into the city. At fifteen years old I felt pretty important. At that time there was a bus depot down the street and I would have to walk by the Holy Rosary Cathedral to get to my classes. Sometimes I would quietly walk in and take a seat in a back pew. There I would sit for a few moments, taking in the peace and beauty around me. I can still close my eyes and remember how I felt, how settled it made me.

This building is, or I should say was, the  First Schara Tzedeck Synagogue. The original building was built in 1911 and is located at East Pender and Heatley Avenue. (across the street from the house where Vancouver's first undertaker lived.)  The name was originally Benei Yehuda which means Children (sons) of Judah. On June 14, 1917 the congregation was incorporated as Schara Tzedeck - Gates of Righteousness.

In 1948 the synagogue moved into new, larger quarters in the south Cambie neighbourhood.

The building is now home to condos. Some purists may find that offensive but in my opinion it is a great way to make use of a building that isn't being used as it was once intended and to give it new life. And the building gets to stay and be admired for many more years to come.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

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